Draper’s & Damon’s

Elevating and effective

Design Homepages, Emails & Digital Assets for Fashion Retail.

Bluestem Brands requested homepage, site assets and email designs for their target customers: Women aged 55+ with a mid-high income level, to be inspirational, informative and clear. Bluestem also requested digital creative to meet stakeholder goals of increased conversion rates and overall profitability for the Draper’s & Damon’s brand.

Draper’s & Damon’s is a women’s luxury fashion retailer. Originating in Pasadena, CA 1927 as a small shop owned by Virginia Draper, Draper’s & Damon’s has grown to a mid-sized company averaging $18.5M in revenue and a dedicated customer base.

Clean Up UX/UI

Clean up communication and improve user experience on the Homepage by setting digital brand standards on typography, imagery and asset design. Adhering to ADA and WCAG standards.

Support Plans

Support campaign initiatives by identifying best assets necessary across the site and design the web assets to have a unified look and communication.

Communicate Clearly

Oversee email design to create clear and appealing customer messaging in order to increase click throughs and conversion rates.

Boost Metrics

Present business demand plans on the homepage in an appealing manner to drive up conversion and profits.

Build A Team

Set easy brand standards for the digital design team to follow in order to present an elevated brand look, as well as making room for team creative brainstorming and trying new tactics.

Digital Creative Manager

Management and planing of digital creative team and designs.

• Oversee homepage, email and social media UX and UI creative.

• Advise on WCAG and ADA standards as well as best UX/UI practices.

• Maintain an elevated and simple brand voice.

• Lead a team of 4 direct reports of digital designers, copywriters and a retoucher.

• Work in agile, cross-functional teams composed of content planning, marketing and e-comm operations.

• Plan with senior leadership and stakeholders to meet business initiatives.

• Evaluate and adjust workflows to improve productivity.

Women 55+

Looking for fashion garments that make a statement and flatter.

• Confident and outgoing.

• Mid-high income level.

• Prefer clothing that is fashion forward and bold.

• Need clothing that flatters and easy to care for.

Customer Persona:

User Journey:

Direct competitors research revealed:

• Bold editorial hero with commends viewer attention through size and strong imagery.

• Showcasing seasonal trends in an overview format creates an inspirational experience for the customer and encourages her to explore beyond her original goal.

• Having minimal promotional banners allows customer to focus on the overall collection.

• Closely adhering to ADA standards allows for a pleasant, focused and simplified shopping experience.

In-direct competitor research revealed:

• Showcasing best sellers or top programs provides social proof to help drive conversions. Adding star reviews and testimonies to “Best-Sellers” provide instant social proof to help drive interest.

• Digital assets with typography that does not pass WCAG contrast requirements, are barely legible and have endless loop animation are highly distracting.

• Smart use of grids tell multiple stories and can help shorten the depth of the homepage or email, while making sure key stories are up above the fold.

Set brand standards aligning with ADA requirements across digital assets and created brand style guides while allowing for creative pursuit of new tactics and fresh design appeal.

Created a new workflow of presenting homepages lo-fidelity wireframes to stakeholders on monthly basis. Giving opportunity for alignment on campaigns, key messaging and promotions.

Created a “Perfectly put-together” outfitting section and where to wear them. Exposed an ensembles category previously undiscoverable in the navigation. This category presented inspirational value to the customer and a large conversion opportunity for the company.

Introduced a “Customer Favorite” section to showcase key demand items on the homepage for items that were not covered in other homepage sections. The using a 1x6 design allowed for exposure of multiple items without lengthening the homepage.

Improved metrics on a low performing “Collections” section by applying a quad layout of core trends and categories. Going from single digits of attractiveness on clickmaps to strong double digits. Giving the customer an easy overview of the seasonal collection.

Using responsive design to instate a mobile-first approach. Recognizing that 50% of Draper’s customers interact with the digital products via Mobile. Analyzing and trimming the designs to allow for quick access to key programs and trends by using features such as horizontal scrolling of certain sections and grid layouts on the Mobile assets.

Breaking down complex site updates into MVP’s and working with teams towards next sprint goals.

Assigned hierarchy to stakeholder programs so that important high-demand messaging appear above the fold on desktop while supporting additional invites in emails. Working closely with Omni-channel teams to have a cohesive campaign messaging and look across print-digital and social platforms.